On display

On display

Day Cycle – Tiina Laasonen, Sculptor

1.3.– 19.5.2019

Tiina Laasonen’s exhibition Day Cycle presents a selection of earlier works, that have rarely been seen in public, and links them to the present with new pieces. Presented art works are conceptual installations. Their themes draw an emotional lifespan through small things experienced in everyday life. The works by Laasonen deal with busy years of midlife, the challenges in being a woman, and getting older. The exhibition Day Cycle is a continuation for the exhibition Memory Trace seen at the Nelimarkka Museum in Alajärvi, Finland in the summer of 2018.

The works presented at the Ostrobothnian Museum give a glance to the variety of the materials used by Tiina Laasonen. In this exhibition, she has used ceramics, cloth, recycled objects, and wood. The earliest piece in the exhibition is Woman’s Fate – Stay! (2003), which processes the challenges of womanhood. The installation consists of 128 ceramic high-heeled shoes, cast with a pair of 1950’s Italian shoes as a model and placed on plinths in a tight arrangement. The total dimensions of the work are 992 ´ 224 cm. Lullaby 2 (2011), deals with sickness and aging. The beautiful lace-like coverlet, made of 3510 plaster cast pills, hides an iron bed. Other materials are recycled, including a dowry sheets of the artist’s grandmother from Jyväskylä. The piece participated in the exhibition of the Ostrobothnian Artists’ Union at the Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art in Vaasa in 2011.

Tiina Laasonen: Lullaby 2 (2011)

The most recent works in the exhibition are a part of a series, Shades of Memory, Laasonen is currently working on. The series deals with the importance of remembering for maintaining the identity of one’s own. Every Day Pearls (2019), is a site-specific installation that resembles a collage. The artist has collected a variety of wooden household objects from flea markets, donations by private individuals. This installation tells stories about life in general and the users of the objects in particular. Rush Year (2019) is a Household Code, which tells about one year in life. It is an assemblage.

The only classically wooden sculpture in the exhibition is called Good and Bad Days (2018). The work consists of round pieces turned from tree trunks and assembled in a large wooden chain of pearls. Just like a stich it goes through the wall to the opposite side and back again. This work of art is based on a commemorative verse from a song by Oke Peltonen “Muista joka päivä” (Remember Everyday).

“As beautiful as a ribbon, the days of the years,

As a pearl, each of them remain a memory.”

(translation by Julian Dawe)

Tiina Laasonen: Every Day Pearls (2019)

Tiina Laasonen (b. 1968 in Kauhava, Western Finland) is a sculptor, environmental artist, and art teacher. In addition to her considerable career in arts, Laasonen has also been an active member in various artists’ organisations and held several positions of trust. Laasonen lives and works in Seinäjoki, Finland.

For Tiina Laasonen, artistic work is a language in which she contemplates the human existence and her own relationship to the nature. Materiality and respect for the material are important, indeed, in Laasonen’s working process. Perception and observing are her tools. The different materials that Laasonen uses in her sculptures and installations are selected according to the artistic idea and the intended place. The process is slow, silent, and repetitive. For Laasonen, working with three-dimensional form means generating a dialogue between the subject matter, the material, and the space as has experienced them.

Art works by Tiina Laasonen have been exhibited in several museums and galleries in Finland and abroad and her works have been acquired for both in public and private collections. Laasonen has also created public art pieces in urban as well as rural settings. In addition, she is busy with community and environment art projects and facilitating environmental art workshops.

The Arts Council of Ostrobothnia granted Tiina Laasonen the Art Reward of 2017 for her wide-ranging œuvre as artist. The exhibition at the Ostrobothnian Museum in Vaasa, Finland has been supported by the local office of the Arts Promotion Centre of Finland.